Biographies, memoirs, & documentaries
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I was always intimidated and self-conscious when I talked to her or was in her presence because she was like art. I mean, she was an object that had been very strongly, effectively created. (Robert Rauschenberg, Edie: An American Biography, 1982) George Plimpton did an excellent job editing all the interviews Jean Stein gathered for
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How different would Factory Girl have been if Andy Warhol were still alive? Would he have threatened to sue like Bob Dylan? Or would have cursed it out like Lou Reed? He called it, “one of the most disgusting, foul things I’ve seen — by any illiterate retard — in a long time. There’s no
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There’s a curious lyric right after the famous opening lines of the Talking Heads song, “Once In A Lifetime.” Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down… It’s curious because when you think of “letting the days go by,” you think of “going with the flow,” you think of “floating.” This lyric
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In middle school I spent an entire Sunday transcribing the lyrics to “Return to Sender” so I could memorize and sing them later. But while Elvis was singing: “Return to sender, address unknown,” I was writing: “Return December, address and phone.” As an adult I’ve had the opportunity to tour Graceland and to attend a
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It began with a Tweet. I had read Panda Dad’s “epilogue” and Tweeted that he had me “up until he decided to plug his friends’ book.” He Tweeted back that he was concerned about the cheesiness of it too but really did believe in the worth of his friends’ book. I Tweeted back “No worries.
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There are two interesting Chinese documentaries streaming on Netflix right now: Weijun Chen’s Please Vote for Me (2007) and Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home (2010). In Chen’s movie, a third grade class experiences democracy firsthand when they hold an election for “Class Monitor.” Fan’s Last Train Home uses the difficulties of securing a train home
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I was OK with it even with my inner- Tiger Mom (the angry condescending voice in my head that berates and second guesses every action I take) telling me: “You’ll be blind! And then you’ll be a burden to your family! You better hope they kill you! At least then your family can collect the
Vincent Young 